Primate Numbers
Richard K. Thomas · 2018
Introduction: Who’s on First? After a quick review of our story so far, we continue our journey. We move closer to our human species in the evolutionary ladder of taxonomic classification, all the while looking for evidence of ancestral expression and perception of characteristics of music. This chapter focuses on the mammalian order, primates, and our introduction provides some caveats about the difficulties of precisely determining the nature of our past. These difficulties stir up many controversies along the way, so we must be careful in adopting specific theories that have proponents and opponents. We introduce the concept of mimesis, consciously rehearsed imitation and its relationship to sound, and consider the prevailing theories about which came first: music, language, or mimesis. Music, Language and Theatre: The Really Early Years Our story picks up around the time of the extinction of the dinosaurs, about 60 million years ago. We consider some of the primitive expressions of emotion exhibited by mammals, both through vocal expression of emotions, and early exhibitions of “drumming” behaviors. We look for this behavior especially in the context of ritual activities rooted in imitation, and discover what many researchers consider a biological and genetic basis for this in mirror neurons. We discover signs of a relationship between mirror neurons in Old World monkeys and sound, and imagine the implications for sound in theatre. Bipedal Primates In this section we continue to follow the evolutionary evidence for mimesis and drumming behaviors that eventually led to bipedalism. Bipedalism represents not just a major leap forward for our human genus, Homo , but physiological and neurological adaptations that may have led to more sophisticated forms of musical expression. We find strong evidence in this period of a number of adaptations that not only increased our chances of survival as a species, but also played a major role in the development of more sophisticated activities that would eventually express themselves in music, ritual and even theatre.